Umbrella
by Melya
Summary: When a particularly bad day has Eeyore decide that it would be better if he left the Hundred Acre Wood, can one of his friends persuade him otherwise?
1. A Bad Day

**Umbrella**

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_**Author's note:**__ Ugh, when have I started summarizing my cheesy stories with an even cheesier hundred-buck question? I must say that while I have loved these characters since I was a kid, the idea of writing about them had never really occurred to me before. I was randomly going through some animated videos online when I came across an episode of _The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh_ series called "Donkey for a Day". There's just something about the ending that I found very touching and it made me want to try something along the same lines. Then I happened to see an adorable Bradford Exchange collectible figure with the inscription "Luckily, Mondays only happen once a week", which spontaneously inspired me the main idea for this story _(though for some reason, my writing invariably turns out horribly sappy or downright depressing, if not both)_. I would say that the general feel of this fic is closer to that of the Disney films from the 90's (such as the surprisingly serious _Tigger Movie_) than to the much lighter and episodic first movie, though I also took inspiration from the books. I hope the characters won't be atrociously off as a result..._

_Except for some little references here and there, I did not try to imitate Milne's writing style, which would inevitably have come out as an epic fail anyway. I have to apologize in advance for my absolute inability to write in British English. Please feel free to point out any flagrant mistakes regarding the language, the geography of the Hundred Acre Wood, the characters or any other significant detail that I may (very possibly) have gotten wrong. Thank you for your interest in my humble writing!_

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't know how I could possibly be mistaken for a literary genius, but just to make sure, here we go ('round the mulberry bush). Except for a few details of my own invention, all characters and places featured or mentioned in this story are the intellectual property of the great author A.A. Milne, and their depictions herein are mostly based on Disney's many animated adaptations of his books, _Winnie-the-Pooh_ and _The House at Pooh Corner_. Therefore, I do not claim to own anything and I make zero profit out of my writing, which is displayed here for entertainment purposes solely. Voilà!_

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**Chapter 1 - A Bad Day**

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It had been a Bad Day. From Eeyore's perspective, very rare were the days that could be considered good, but so far, this one had been unfolding in a particularly disastrous way. Even before the late morning sunlight had a chance to awaken him gently as was usually the case, his house ‒ which could be described more accurately as a simple tent made with sticks and barely large enough to contain him ‒ had been destroyed for the hundredth time, with him still inside, when out of nowhere a football had fallen in the middle of Pooh Corner and right through the precarious construction. It had not taken long until a breathless Piglet had swiftly come to retrieve it, stuttering a sheepish apology before darting back into the woods.

After a single unsuccessful attempt to reassemble the scattered sticks, which had proven to be a laborious task to accomplish without hands, Eeyore had given up and opted to go for a walk instead, hoping that some distraction would prevent things from getting exponentially worse as they seemed to inevitably do on such days, or on most days as far as he was concerned. He had made it to a clearing when voices had alerted him to the presence of other animals. Out of the nearby vegetation had sprung Christopher Robin, Winnie the Pooh and Piglet, all running after the same ball that had destroyed his shelter, with Rabbit, Tigger and Roo hot on their heels. Peering through the dense foliage, Eeyore had thought that they seemed to be having a lot of fun, but he had not dared to invite himself in the middle of their game, assuming that if they had needed another player, they would have simply asked him.

Later that day, an overly excited Tigger had accidentally bounced him off the riverside, where he had been having an existential conversation with his own reflection. The current had carried him dangerously close to the great waterfall, before his friends had managed to pull him out using Christopher Robin's fishing rod. As if that last incident had not been enough, he had realized once he had been back on solid ground that his tail had not followed him out of the water.

All critters of the Hundred Acre Wood had assembled and spent the afternoon scouring the river banks in search of the lost tail, without success. Anxious to cheer up their downcast ‒ and completely drenched ‒ comrade after all his misfortunes, they had collectively tried their best to console him with promises to find him a replacement tail and they had attempted to distract him with all kinds of games, without much more success. After Eeyore's cynical remarks, which had been ignored as usual, had faded to a stoic silence, every animal had then taken turns to try and convince him that the situation was not as dramatic as he made it out to be. In fact, they were still at it the moment this story actually begins.

"Oh well, it seems that you'll have to learn to live without it," Rabbit stated with a helpless shrug. "It was only a tail, after all."

"That's true," Piglet chimed in optimistically. "What really m-matters is that you're alright, Eeyore."

"Am I glad nothin' happened to you, ol' donkey boy!" exclaimed Tigger, spontaneously drawing the panicked donkey into a suffocatingly tight hug. "Phew, it was a close one! Sorry 'bout that, I hadn't seen you there."

"It's alright. No one ever does," Eeyore croaked faintly with what little breath he had left in him.

"Don't be so pessimistic, my friend," Owl intervened. "An animal your size would be hard not to notice. As for your tail, there's no reason for mourning. Such a simplistic appendage can easily be replaced with a great variety of very convenient substitutes. That reminds me of my great-uncle Waldo's youngest cousin, Roger-the-Bald, as we affectionately called him, who had to live with a duster for a tail after he was plagued with the 'flew'. That, you see, is what we call the mysterious disease which causes feathers to fall off, the result of such misfortune being that one can no longer fly ‒ hence the name, you see. Now, Roger had been one of the most gracious gliders in this forest back when he had all his tail feathers..."

As Owl's grand family tail tale went on and on, the others soon began to exchange distressed glances as they found yawns increasingly hard to suppress, but they dared not interrupt him, for Christopher Robin had taught them all about the importance of always displaying good manners. However, that did not keep Winnie the Pooh from gradually growing more acutely aware of his surroundings than of the ongoing speech. Before long, he found his thoughts drifting away in unpredictable and mostly circular little patterns, pretty much like the erratic flight of a drowsy bee, going up with his wandering gaze to marvel at the size of the clouds that were quickly gathering over the forest, before lightly but fatally spiraling back down in the general direction of his already empty stomach. It was then that a very simple idea occurred to him. Very quietly, so as not to disturb the half-hypnotised group still listening to Owl's speech, he made his way to Eeyore's side and lightly prodded his shoulder to get his attention.

"See, Eeyore, just now I was thinking, I don't have a tail either and that doesn't make me unhappy, as long as I can always have a little smackerel of honey," he pointed out helpfully. "Would it make you feel better if I shared some of mine with you?"

"Thanks for offering, Pooh, but I don't..." Eeyore began, before the bear suddenly rectified,

"Oh, bother. I'm sorry, Eeyore. I just remembered that I haven't got any honey left at home."

"How unfortunate," said Eeyore, sounding prodigiously indifferent.

"I can get you haycorns instead... i-if you would like some," suggested Piglet, whose big ears had caught his best friend's every word.

Except for his eyebrows, which looked as though they were very slowly melting to form a flat line above his eyes, Eeyore's features remained perfectly still.

Tigger, who happened to be standing right beside him, gently but firmly pushed the pink animal aside to take the spot in front of their dismal companion.

"Leave this to me, Piglet! Don't you see he ain't in the mood for eatin', are you, buddy?" he asked, turning to the other.

Before Eeyore could utter a semblance of an answer, Tigger went on, gesticulating wildly as he did.

"Of course, he isn't, but I know just what he needs. There's nothin' better to put a smile on a sad face than a little bouncin'!"

Tigger effectively punctuated his affirmation with an energetic bounce, thus unintentionally getting the attention of a larger public than he had intended.

"I think it would be worth a try," Rabbit approved, rubbing his chin pensively. "Now if somebody could get me a trampoline... you!" he decided, randomly designating Piglet, whose face fell piteously.

Eeyore made no protest as his friends gathered around him from all sides, but had they paid attention, they would have noticed his eyes darting from left to right as though desperately scanning his surroundings for an escape, which is precisely what they were eagerly trying to localize.

He was unexpectedly saved by Roo, who had briefly eluded his mother's attention and who presently came bouncing out of a nearby bush, holding a short branch garnished with a single tuft of orange leaves in his fingerless little hand.

"Look what I found, mummy!" he exclaimed merrily. "It's a new tail for Eeyore."

For the first time since everyone had joined in the positive thinking exhortation, there was a moment of silence as all voices died out, including Owl's.

"Would you like to try it on, dear?" asked Kanga, taking the branch from her son's paw and showing it to Eeyore.

"Guess it would be better than nothin'," mumbled the latter without any trace of enthusiasm, but with audible relief from the fact that the gang's previous plan which involved bouncing was suddenly falling into oblivion.

And so the tree branch was attached behind him with a piece of string that Kanga happened to be carrying in her pouch. Everyone rejoiced, except Eeyore, who remained as cheerless as ever.

"Problem solved! I say this calls for proper celebrations," declared Rabbit, as proudly as if he had been the one to find the solution.

"I think I'll just..." Eeyore began, before Tigger interrupted him by grabbing his shoulders.

"You'll see, buddy, we'll make you forget your troubles in no time at all!" exclaimed the enthusiastic feline, pulling at the donkey's front legs to make him bounce.

"I... doubt it... but nevermind... what I say," muttered Eeyore between rather painful landings on his behind.

"It's a pity that Christopher Robin had to leave so early today to meet that mysterious Damptist," deplored Winnie the Pooh. "I would have liked to ask him if he happened to have cake and balloons for the occasion, by any chance..."

As he looked around, as though expecting a nice piece of cake to fall from a nearby tree, he spotted Piglet finally coming back from his errand, heroically struggling to push an object at least four times his size on the very bumpy forest ground. Pooh ran to help him, and also to inform him that the trampoline would not be needed, after all, which caused the exhausted little fellow to pass out.

While everybody else was busy cheering and discussing their next ideas, Eeyore seized the occasion to distance himself from the excited group, the branch losing half of its leaves as it dragged on the ground behind him. Tigger, who still stood closest to him, was the first to notice his clumsy attempt to slip away.

"Hey, where you goin', donkey boy? The fun's only just begun!" he said playfully.

"Sure looks like it," Eeyore observed flatly. "Wouldn't want to ruin it for you. Go ahead, enjoy yourselves."

"But Eeyore, the fun's supposed to be for you," objected Rabbit, who had joined them as soon as he had picked up on what was going on. "You can't desert your own party! That's no proper way to behave."

"Don't go, Eeyore! We haven't finished cheering you up yet," begged Roo plaintively.

Seeing the disappointed crowd closing in on him again, Eeyore took a few steps back.

"Not that I don't appreciate what you're all tryin' to do, but last time everyone decided to cheer me up, I nearly ended up getting killed. I'd rather be left alone for now, if you don't mind."

"There he goes again," an increasingly exasperated Rabbit grumbled under his breath.

"Why would anyone wish to be alone?" asked Pooh, scratching his head in confusion.

"We're all here for you," added Piglet warmly.

"Thanks but..." Eeyore uselessly demurred again.

"Since your replacement tail is already damaged, I can make you a new one out of wool this time. Would you like that?" Kanga offered benevolently.

"That's very kind of you, Kanga, but you don't need to do that for me. You should all get back to what you were doing while I go and sit by myself by that pond over there. Don't mind me."

"Nonsense! We're your friends, Eeyore. You've got to let us do something for you!" Rabbit insisted.

"I don't think you can."

"Eeyore!" scorned Owl from a branch just above him. "You should try to have a more positive attitude, my friend. Don't you see we're all going out of our way to improve your situation?"

"Sorry for wasting your time," Eeyore said, staring at the ground.

It went on like this for a while, until Rabbit's patience ran out entirely.

"Fine!" he snapped, briskly stomping his foot on the ground. "I've had enough. If you won't make any effort to help us help you, then why don't you take your moping with you somewhere it won't victimise us all? You can go to whatever dreary place you fancy and enjoy your own miserable company if that's your idea of fun, but don't you dare come back whining that you're being ignored! I've got a thousand better ways to spend my precious time than to waste it on someone who can't appreciate it."

On these words, he turned his back on the astonished group and angrily hopped down the road to his hole.

"I say," Owl said indeed, "that was not very considerate of you, Eeyore. Pushing away those who try to reach out to you... I fear that all our efforts cannot do much against your incurable apathy and the asocial tendencies you display. Now if you will excuse me, I shall leave you to your gloomy thoughts as is apparently your preference. I will be at my house, should you come to change your mind. Have a good day, my friends."

Eeyore's dull gaze followed the erudite bird as he took off, before setting itself back onto the forest ground, where it stayed glued obstinately afterwards.

"I knew I'd better keep my thoughts to myself as usual," he said darkly, more to himself than to his remaining companions. "Speaking up never did me any good. Should've known better."

There was an awkward pause, which was soon broken by Tigger, who could no longer stand still.

"By my stripes, all this standing and frownin's making my feet itch. Ya real sure you don't wanna give it a bounce, Eeyore ol' pal?"

"Real sure," muttered Eeyore numbly.

"Ah. Well uh, another time, then. Ta ta for now!"

The hyperactive feline's iconic song about the wonderful qualities of Tiggers could be heard echoing faintly through the forest as his bouncy silhouette disappeared among distant trees. His hasty departure seemed to inspire Pooh, who looked down at his growling belly and declared,

"Please excuse my tummy for being so very rumbly. It's getting rather... insistant on reminding me that it's time for a little something to eat. I'm going to ask Rabbit if he could lend me just a tiny little jar of honey; he always has a few in store. Are you coming with me, Piglet?"

"Y-yes Pooh, I'm coming," answered the bear's nervous companion, throwing the sullen donkey a worried glance as he passed him by. "Will you be alright, Eeyore?"

"No," replied the latter without bothering to raise his downcast gaze. "Not that it matters."

Though momentarily taken aback by his blunt answer, Piglet quickly regained his composure and hurried after the ravenous bear. Soon, the only ones left were the kangaroos, who exchanged uncertain glances as they cautiously approached their miserable-looking friend.

"What's wrong, Eeyore?" Roo asked empathetically.

"Only everything," retorted the other somberly.

"Don't you like your new tail at all? I thought it would make you happy."

The child had such a disappointed expression that Eeyore made an effort to answer him with a milder tone.

"Wish I could say it did, but I can't. The tail's fine, only I'm not."

"But why is that?" Roo insisted.

"Come, Roo, stop bothering Eeyore," instructed Kanga, holding her pouch open for the young kangaroo to jump in, which he did reluctantly. Before she left, she gently lay a paw on the felled donkey's back.

"I'm so sorry about your tail, dear. I know you were very attached to it. I do hope somebody will find it, just like last time you lost it. Don't worry, I'm sure it's just lying around somewhere down the river and you will soon get it back."

"Don't have much hope for that," was all she got for an answer.

As she lightly bounced away, Roo poked his head out to ask her innocently, "Mum, what makes some animals so sad?"

Visibly surprised by his question, Kanga took a few more leaps before she answered him.

"I don't know, dear. Maybe it's their heart that has been damaged."

Roo's brow furrowed in thought as he pondered the possibility.

"You mean like that time when Tigger fell into the thorny bushes and broke his foot? He came out looking just as sad as Eeyore because he couldn't bounce anymore, but then you repaired him and he was all happy again! Do you think hearts can be repaired too?"

Stopping to look down at her son, Kanga smiled regretfully and her gaze drifted over to the rapidly covering sky.

"Some things are more difficult to sew back together than a torn foot, darling. There are invisible stitches that only time can mend and some never disappear completely. We all have different ways of dealing with the thorns that life places our way, but for some of us, the road seems to have more of them. I'm afraid that all we can do is give our friend some space and be there for him if he ever needs us."

"But how can we know when he does if he never tells us?" Roo asked her again. Seeing his mother hesitate, he slumped back sadly inside the warm shelter of her pouch. "I wish there was a way I could give him some of my own happiness."

"Me too," said Kanga softly, reaching down to pat his head affectionately. She threw a worried glance over her shoulder, before pursuing her route on the narrow path to her tree house.

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Alone at last, Eeyore let out a deep sigh and sat down heavily on the side of the road. Next to him, a solitary thistle, bent in pretty much the same fashion that he was, caught his eye.

"Guess they're right," he told the sad-looking weed in a voice every bit as grey as he was. "Tryin' to raise my spirits ain't nothin' more than a waste of time. Never works anyway. All I ever do is ruin everyone's fun. Might as well go and find some place where I won't be such a bother. They'd probably be happier if I left, wouldn't they?"

Surprisingly, the thistle made no response. Eeyore gave a small shrug and carelessly munched the flower off its stem. Then, pulling himself back up on all four as gracefully as an elderly rhinoceros getting up in the morning, he looked down the path that the others had taken one by one, before turning to contemplate the twisted trail that lead in the opposite direction.


	2. Into the Stormy Night

**Chapter 2 - Into the Stormy Night**

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That night, the early October winds began to blow, bringing along a great deal of rainclouds. Comfortably wrapped up in his warmest blanket with a small jar of honey ‒ "borrowed" from a Rabbit still too upset to object to his visit ‒ tightly held against his round belly, Winnie the Pooh blew out his night lamp and drifted off to the land of dreams almost immediately. He soon began to snore loudly, completely oblivious to the raging weather outside.

Being a creature of a much more anxious nature, Piglet, who had been living with Pooh ever since he had generously given his own beautiful tree house to Owl, was not finding sleep as easily as his careless bear friend was. Curled up into a tiny ball of pink plush and buried up to his ears underneath the blanket, he shut his eyes tightly, trying hard to ignore the howling wind that seemed to find its way through every crack in the walls, only to fall out of bed when the sudden screeching of branches against the window made him jump. Pooh mumbled something about Heffalumps in his sleep and rolled over onto his back, taking up all the space in the bed.

Understanding that he would not be able to rest anytime soon, Piglet lit up a candle and went over to the window to look out into the night, wondering if the other inhabitants of the wood were all sleeping as soundly as his peaceful roommate was. His beady eyes were still scanning the dark aimlessly when they fell upon a small waterdrop on the glass. Looking more closely, he noticed a second one that had landed right next to it, then another one slowly rolling down the lenght of the window, and soon a soft clattering sound could be heard through the roof.

Piglet suddenly let out a strangled gasp and his tiny hands went up to his face as he remembered something he had witnessed that morning and completely forgotten until then.

"Oh no!" he breathed worriedly. "Our ball wrecked the house at Pooh Corner today. Poor Eeyore must be out there in this b-b-bad weather!"

Then an idea came to him.

"I know! I will invite him to come in for the night, the same way Pooh took me in when I had n-no place to go."

And so Piglet hastily lit up a lantern which he took in one hand, grabbed a large rainbow-coloured umbrella with the other and ran out Pooh's front door despite his fear of storms. He was trembling all over and panting heavily when he reached Pooh Corner, but as he passed the old fence, his biggest fear was no longer the storm, for if the pile of sticks that had once been Eeyore's house still lay where he had last seen it, his friend was nowhere to be seen.

"Eeyore?" Piglet called out, his frail voice barely audible in the wind. "Eeyore, where are you ? P-p-please, answer me!"

He looked all around and searched in every possible hiding place, behind bushes, on hilltops and by the stream, turning rocks and climbing trees, but he found nothing. He even went to Eeyore's old Gloomy Place and back, and still there was no trace of the melancholic donkey. When he inspected the pile of wood for the fifth time, he was desperate enough to look underneath and, this time, he did find something he had not noticed before. Pinned to the ground with a short pointy stick, there was a humid piece of paper on which, luckily, most of the horridly misshapen words could still be deciphered:

_Deer frens, if U reedin dis ‒ aim no longur in the 100 aker ‒‒‒. Wil bee beter four evry‒‒ if I leeve. Dont butter loockin four me. Nut dat U wood hav enny reesen too anniway. Sory ‒‒ cozing u trobble. Sighnd, Eor._

"Oh dear!" exclaimed Piglet, dropping his lantern in shock. "Oh d-d-d-dear! Eeyore's gone away! I'd better t-t-tell the others at once."

Piglet instinctively made a run for Pooh's house, which happened to be closest to where he was, but he stopped abruptly after only four steps and turned back, half-paralysed with hesitation. Instead, he started heading uncertainly toward the great tree inhabited by Owl, whose advice he considered to be the wisest, then changed his mind again and backed away in the general direction of Rabbit's home, before finally coming to a fitful halt, unable to decide which way to go, for all of his friends lived in different parts of the wood and it was an awfully big territory to cover for such a small animal, especially at such a late hour and under such a frightening weather. To wake them all up and to have a whole search party organised would take a lot of time, which he feared he was already very short on.

"Oh, oh what should I d-do?" moaned Piglet, his voice breaking from the panic invading him. "How I wish Christopher Robin were here. I'm sure he would know w-where to go..."

After fruitlessly pacing around in a frantic and incoherent mess of steps like an orderless ant for a few seconds that felt agonizingly long to the poor Piglet, he came to the conclusion that his missing friend might be in trouble and that the search for him could not afford to wait any longer. Striving to regain control of his trembling paws, he picked up his lantern, which had luckily resisted its fall but barely shed a ridiculously dim and hardly useful light. Bravely defying the cold autumn wind, he advanced towards...

"Oops! Not that way, little fellow."

Piglet stopped dead in his tracks.

"Who... who said that?" he squeaked, nervously looking all around him in a vain attempt to identify the owner of the unknown voice that he was sure he had not imagined.

"Why, it's me. I am the narrator, Piglet, the one who is telling your story."

"Oh! Oh my. Pardon me, sir... I-I mean, ma'am? I hadn't recognised you. To... to be quite honest, I still don't," said Piglet, timidly balancing on his feet.

"Well, that's because I am not your official narrator, you see. Actually, I'm only a humble fanfiction writer, which would explain why you are currently stuck in this unpleasant situation instead of being on some exciting adventure with all your friends. I tend to get melodramatic like that. In case you are not familiar with the concept, this is the kind of thing likely to happen when an aspiring author such as myself takes the liberty of borrowing..."

"Erm..." coughed Piglet, ducking his head apologetically. "Uh, I'm sorry, I d-d-don't want to interrupt you, Ms. Unofficial Narrator, but my friend Eeyore has left home and I have to find him. Would you happen to know w-which way he went? If... if you're allowed to help me, that is."

"Hmm, well I don't see why I should not. Just turn around. A tad more on your left... There! Do you see the path that leads to the Spooky Forest?"

"I'm afraid there isn't m-much I can see," admitted Piglet, squinting furiously.

"Oh, right. I did narrate you going out at such an hour, though now that I think about it, you should at least have grabbed a raincoat or something... Anyway, the road is right in front of you. Follow it all the way through the forest and then..."

"A-all the way through the S-S-Spooky Forest?" Piglet whimpered, suddenly turning very pale.

"I'm afraid so, but take courage, little one. The main path will eventually lead you out into the neighboring meadow. Keep going until you come to a crossroad, then turn right and walk on for half a mile or so. The Solitary Hills should be easy to find from there. I'll make sure you don't miss them, if it can reassure you."

"Solitary Hills? Is that where Eeyore has gone to?"

This time, the obvious answer to Piglet's question remained unanswered so as to allow me to go on with this already sufficiently slow-paced story.

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All animals agreed to say that the Spooky Forest was very frightening at any time of day and even more so at night, but Piglet was determined to find his missing friend. He resolutely made his way through the dark wood, perhaps hoping that shaking like a leaf would somehow help him go unnoticed among the multitude that continuously came swirling down to join the forest's natural carpet beneath his feet.

Although he kept tripping on the countless invisible rocks and roots that were sticking out of the ground, slipping into puddles the size of small lakes ‒ and losing his already extinguished lantern in the process ‒, feeling blindly for trees only to bump hard into them, falling head first into creepy bushes that stood in his way like plushivore plants waiting to swallow him whole, hearing all kinds of strange noises that made his fluff crawl, losing sight of the trail and unexplainably finding it again, his knees shaking uncontrollably all the while, still he walked on for what seemed like forever (or about the length of this sentence), until at last, the trees receeded to give way to some immense fields he had no idea were on the other side, having never gone so far in that direction before ‒ and also having never had me determine the geographical details of the many stories he had partaken in.

The sky, although still cloaked in a thick layer of clouds as black as ink, was slightly clearer over the meadow, vaguely overlighting the succession of low hills that formed the landscape ahead. Piglet was able to identify the crossroad when his snout came about three inches short of colliding with the sign, but by the time he got there, it was beginning to pour. Until then, the forest had shielded him from the elements, but out in the open, he could feel the autumn gale fluctuating unpredictably, at times threatening to throw him down in a somewhat violent eagerness to introduce him to the gravelly path, only to turn without a warning and start pulling at him, seemingly insistant on offering him a free ride off the ground and away to a Whole New World of flying pigs. Holding on tightly to his umbrella, he followed the path that lead to his right, hoping he had not missed some useful hint.

Soon, the road took a smooth turn around a prominent hill, which rose up notably higher than its surrounding sisters. Looking up from its wide foot, Piglet thought he could make out an indistinct black form at the very top, like the twisted branches of a small tree reaching out despairingly for the invisible moon, barely standing out against the dark sky.

At that sight, his heart leaped inside his chest, for the view strongly evoked the hill behind his old house. So many times, through the large window facing the sunset, had he noticed the solitary donkey sitting up there all by himself. Perched on the very edge, as though waiting for a pair of wings to sprout from his back and carry him away, he would gaze intently into the evening sky, momentarily letting out the shooting stars that no one was ever able to see hiding in the depths of his pitch-black eyes, for them to freely soar up among the clouds and paint them with all the colours that could not be found in his grey world below.

Piglet had been there to see them, once. That time, he had only climbed up the hill to check on his friend and to express his regret for not being able to cheer him up as he had hoped to that day. Anxious not to disturb him, he had already begun to head back down dishearteningly, when to his surprise, Eeyore had come after him and started telling him how much he actually liked the view from up there. Leading him back to the spot where he had been sitting for the last few hours, he had pointed an ear to one particularly imposing cumulonimbus and seemed to wait expectantly. Confused as to what he was supposed to make of such a sight, but feeling that it held some important meaning for Eeyore, Piglet had stood staring resolutely into the dark formation above, only to find himself marveling at the unexpected beauty unfolding before his eyes when a radiant ray of light had pierced through the thickest of the grey, spreading out like liquid gold and illuminating the hilltop. When Piglet had instinctively reached out to touch the bright sunbeams, the way the old donkey's face had lit up had left the small pig feeling privileged, aware that he had been allowed a glimpse into a part of Eeyore's surprisingly colourful mind that was seldom seen by anyone.

Instantly forgetting his aching feet and the fact that he was literally soaked through and through, Piglet sprinted away from the muddy trail and began to climb the hillside, which appeared to be covered with grass. The escalation of the steep, slippery slope was no easy feat, for he kept sliding back down most of the distance he was managing, but he kept trying until he eventually reached a point where he could see the flat summit stretching out before him.


	3. Shelter from the Rain

**Chapter 3 - Shelter from the Rain**

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The wind was rising and the puny tree beneath which Eeyore was sitting did not provide him much of a shelter.

"Just keeps gettin' better," he grumbled to himself as a bunch of damp leaves landed straight onto his head, splashing cold water all over his face. "I'll probably catch a cold at this rate. Just the kind of thing that always happens to me."

As he was uneffectively trying to wipe the water from his eyes with his long ears, Eeyore suddenly grew aware that the rain had stopped hammering his drenched fabric, though strangely, he could now hear its loud rattle resounding even more distinctly around him. When he looked up, he was puzzled not to find himself staring into the starless sky through the barren branches above, but rather at a large circular shape that appeared to be hovering over him. His head swiveled around and there at his side stood a familiar silhouette, holding up an umbrella twice as wide as its own small stature above them both.

"Piglet?" he almost exclaimed in his astonishment. "What are you doing here? No one should be outside at a time like this."

"W-well... I was..." began the smaller animal, stopping to catch his breath before he could resume his explanation. "Actually, I was thinking the same thing, Eeyore. I couldn't sleep knowing that you were outside in this weather because of us, so I t-thought I should invite you to come spend the night inside with Pooh and me... but w-when I got to your place, I could not see you anywhere and... and then I found your note."

Piglet's breathing had almost slowed back to normal by then, but his back was slouched and his short legs were wavering with apparent fatigue.

"How did you get here on your own?" inquired Eeyore, deliberately straying from the point.

"I, uh... well, I followed the path through the forest, but I had no idea where you could be. I was s-s-so afraid that I had lost my way and I'd never find you. Then I saw this g-great hill and it reminded me of the place where I've always been able to find you, at home... I know how much you like the view from the hilltop, so I was r-really hoping that if you had come this way, you would have stopped here. You don't know how relieved I am to see you!"

Piglet demonstrated his affirmation by throwing himself forward to wrap his free arm tightly around the closest one of his companion's much thicker front legs.

Eeyore's features lightened up almost imperceptibly as he looked down at him.

"So you came all the way here just to find me?"

"Why, y-yes," answered Piglet as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, finally letting go to meet his questioning gaze. "I was t-terribly worried that something might have happened to you."

"Really?" Eeyore sounded genuinely surprised. "Don't see why that should matter so much to you, but thanks for your concern. Sorry you went through all that trouble for nothin'."

Piglet was so shocked that he almost lost his grasp on the umbrella, causing it to sway dangerously in the inconstant breeze.

"Wha-what are you saying, Eeyore? You're my friend. Of course you matter to me! And to all the others at home, too. Why did you leave us? D-d-did we do something wrong? Please, let me know if... if we said something that hurt you, or if there's something we should have done. M-maybe if I had tried harder to find your tail, or if I had offered to help you rebuild your house..."

"It's not that," said Eeyore, shaking his head despondently.

"N-no? But, then... what's the matter?"

"You don't really want to know, do you?" asked the donkey, looking at him dejectedly, only to avert his gaze almost immediately. "It's okay. Didn't think you would. You don't have to pretend to be interested, you know. Tell the others they don't need to worry about me. I'll be fine."

Piglet was hurt by his companion's assumption that he did not care to hear him out, but tried not to show it as he uselessly shifted his feet around the large puddle he could not avoid standing in.

"You won't really, though... will you, Eeyore?" He waited a few seconds for an answer that did not come, before adding tentatively, "I do wish you would tell me why you couldn't stay. That's why I'm here."

Eeyore appeared unsure for a moment.

"Nothing interesting to it, really, but since you insist..." he let out a hollow sigh. "You saw what happened back there, Piglet. You all tried so hard to cheer me up once more, but I ruined it for all of you. Haven't been very grateful, have I? Didn't feel like doing anything cheerful, to be honest, but I suppose I should have let you all give it yet another try without complaining and pretended to feel better, if only for the sake of showin' some appreciation for your efforts. Sayin' what really was on my mind only made everybody upset. Should've expected that. After you all left, I thought for a while and realized things would most likely never change. Figured I'd been bothering you long enough and you'd all be better off without me, as some of you seemed to think so. That's why I decided to leave."

Piglet's big leaf-shaped ears, which had been drooping lower and lower as he listened, now hung down limply against the back of his pear-shaped head. He asked with a weak, strangled voice,

"You... you really thought we wouldn't mind if you were gone? That we could j-just let you walk out of our lives forever without even trying to stop you?"

"Thought you might not notice," replied Eeyore sullenly with a shrug.

Piglet was so mortified that it took him a moment to compose himself enough to speak again.

"Oh, Eeyore... How can you believe we could p-p-possibly be happier without you?"

Eeyore did not answer, but his head seemed to grow heavier, as though its stuffing had been replaced with lead marbles.

"No one thinks you're a bother. We didn't leave because of you. It-it's, actually, it was... w-we just had to..."

Piglet trailed off lamentably, failing to come up with a convincing argument.

"Can't blame you," Eeyore said resignedly, still staring straight ahead into the nothingness. "I can see why no one would want to stay around for long. Someone as hopeless as me's bound to draw others away, and yet as troublesome as I may be, you keep tryin' to make me feel like I belong. Rabbit's right, though; I don't have to keep dragging you down with me all the time. My problems aren't yours and I know you've got more important things to do than hear about 'em."

"W-w-well, I guess he just... I mean, we... thought you wanted to be alone..."

Piglet's words had decreased in volume and sounded more like a question than a statement.

"Just to be _left_ alone," he thought he heard Eeyore rectify quietly.

An uncomfortable stillness set in, only disturbed by the dreary weather raging on around them. Piglet felt that he ought to speak some word of encouragement, but he found himself unable to come up with something wise to say. Feeling smaller than ever, he stood anxiously by his downhearted friend's side, until at last he decided to make a desperate attempt to break the deafening silence.

"We never wanted you to leave, Eeyore. Everyone would be awfully s-sad if you weren't there anymore. There's so much good in you that makes the forest a better place..."

He did not see Eeyore roll his eyes in response, but he did hear his incredulous snort.

"I really think so!" Piglet persisted, stretching his neck in a vain attempt to establish eye contact. "You may be gloomy at times... a-alright, most of the time, but it doesn't matter! That doesn't take away all the things that make you a great friend. You're thoughtful, p-p-patient and generous, and very loyal. Y-you see beauty in things most of us never pay attention to; you let others have the f-first pick even if that means you get nothing and you're always ready to lend a paw whenever there's a friend in need. R-remember when you tried to save Roo from the river by letting him hold on to your tail..."

"Didn't really help from upstream," muttered Eeyore.

"... or when you went out on your own in the great rainstorm to s-search for a new home for Owl, until you found the perfect place..."

"That was your house, wasn't it?" Eeyore interrupted mournfully, his massive head sagging between his shoulders. "Only found out afterwards. Yet another thing I did wrong. Sorry you lost it 'cause of me."

"N-n-no, no, it's fine, really!" Pigglet stammered, suddenly wishing he had not brought it up. "It was much too big a house for such a small animal as myself, anyway, and now I get to enjoy breakfast with my best friend every day! I guess what I m-meant to say is... we don't always know how to express our concern, but you're a v-very important member of our big family and always will be. No one could ever replace you, Eeyore."

Piglet felt that he might as well have been urging the tree to go running down the hill and up again. Seeing that trying to convince his taciturn companion of his sincerity was not getting him anywhere and feeling more discouraged with every failed attempt at getting any positive response out of Eeyore, he anxiously twisted his hands around the wooden handle that seemed to grow heavier with each passing minute and merely concluded,

"We honestly do like having you around, n-not because of anything you can do, but simply because we think of you as a very dear friend and we care a lot about you. Do you... d-do you not believe that we do?"

Still getting no reaction, Piglet gave up, letting the tormented night have the last word. He felt terribly awkward and a growing fear that all his efforts were only making matters worse was internally urging him to simply leave the lethargic donkey be and hope that he would eventually come to his senses by himself. Any attempt to reach him appeared to be utterly useless so far.

Still, Piglet's sensitive conscience kept him from turning away. Eeyore had always seemed to be made of heavier stuff than any other animal he knew ‒ and Piglet had sometimes wondered if the sawdust he was filled with might somehow be partly responsible for that ‒ and yet, as dark as his outlook on life could get, Eeyore never cried; he never seemed to get overwhelmed with worry or disappointment, to lose his temper or to become emotional over anything, no matter how distraught anybody else would have been in many of the situations he had so placidly faced. The worst possible misfortune was all he ever expected to come to him and whenever it did not, it was only a matter of time before he would be proven right. He never reached out or asked his friends for anything, nor even expected them to pay him any mind, only following them from a distance when they insisted on including him. He so seldom expressed any kind of emotion, aside from his seemingly eternal pessimism, that it was to be wondered if time had rendered him too numb to feel anything at all, which tended to be intimidating for such a sensitive animal as Piglet. Yet, as the latter looked at his friend's still form, hunched over miserably in his frozen stoicism, he found an outburst of sympathy rising in his tender heart, which he soon found himself unable to conceal any longer. Without risking another word, he took a small step to stand closer to him and reached out hesitantly.

Sensing the tiny paw that had come to rest gently on his side, Eeyore raised his head slightly. Casting his persistant companion a weary side glance, he could hardly tell if what he thought he could see glistening faintly on Piglet's chubby cheeks were tears or raindrops. Finally, his dull voice rose again.

"I know you all worry about me, even though I must be a pain to have for a friend. Just find it hard to believe anyone could really want me around."

He paused, swiftly consulting Piglet's inquisitive stare, before averting his again. His voice dropped even lower, as did his entire posture, as he went on.

"After my first owner grew tired of playing with me and gave me up, I never dared to get my hopes up again. After all, nothing lasts forever. Wish I could feel at home among my friends, but I always have the feeling that it's just a matter of time before they'll have enough too. I know I'm not easy to live with. I'm boring and moody and I got nothin' nice to say. Doesn't look like things'll get better any time soon and I can't expect others to bear with me indefinitely, so I prefer to leave than to wait for them to throw me a goin' away party, if you see what I mean."

Piglet's arm, which had slowly retracted back to his side, suddenly went up to his mouth in shocked realisation as he recalled the incident that Eeyore was alluding to, and how the latter had immediately assumed that his friends wanted him gone, when all they had been trying to hint at was just that he let Pooh have his own house back. Without offering any opposition or even asking why, as though he had long known that moment would come sooner or later, he had merely turned his back on them and grimly trotted out the door. At the time, Piglet had been confused by his reaction, but never had the thought occurred to him that Eeyore might actually take it as a cue to leave the Hundred Acre Wood. Now he could feel a shudder crawling up his back at the thought that they could have lost him so easily that day, had Tigger not had the presence of mind to go after him right away.

"I... I'm sorry, I didn't know..." he stammered. "You had never talked about that before. W-why didn't you tell us?"

"No one ever asked me," came Eeyore's reply. "Didn't want to bother you with my depressing story. Thought it wouldn't make much difference, anyway."

Piglet was now staring at his own feet, which had started tracing circles in the damp grass.

"I'm sorry, Eeyore," he said. "I-I don't know what to say."

"Ain't much to say about it," Eeyore shrugged.

"I really wish there was something I could do," Piglet sighed defeatedly, fiddling with the handle again.

Eeyore looked up at the underside of the umbrella that Piglet was still holding above him, although the rain was falling much more softly now.

"You're already doing a lot," he observed, his voice slightly warmer.

"But it's not enough," said Piglet quietly. "It's just... I really want to be a g-good friend, but I don't know how. I always fear that I'm too small to do anything important. I feel I can't be strong or b-brave enough to be helpful to those I care about and it scares me to think I might let them down. S-sometimes, I even wonder if they need me at all..."

Noticing Eeyore's troubled stare, Piglet realized that he had gotten lost in his own thoughts and quickly added, "But even if they don't say it often, I know they see something good in me and that makes me want to believe it too. I'm lucky to have friends who love me the way I am. I know they love you as well, Eeyore, a-and so do I. What can we do to show you we care?"

"Nothing you haven't already tried," said Eeyore, shaking his head. "Even though you're good friends, I never expected you to make everything alright. I know you mean well, but I'd rather you didn't try so hard and then resent me when all your efforts fail to make me feel better. Wish I could stop being so gloomy all the time, but I can't. Maybe that's just part of being me. Must be frustrating for those who live around me. I'm not good at showing it, but I really am thankful for all you've done. Especially you, little Piglet. You've always had a heart that's too big for your own size and better ears to listen than most, and there you are again, braving this storm in the middle of the night to look over a grumpy old donkey."

His voice softened at this, though he remained grim. Since Piglet was staying quiet, he went on. "I appreciate that you've wanted to make me happy all this time. It's not your fault that I'm not. Don't know why I can't be like the rest of you. Even when I bother to try, I just make others feel uncomfortable or lose their patience, like the time I made a mess of things by wanting to be like Tigger. It's no use. I'm tired, Piglet. Tired of being the one who needs to be cheered up all the time and who can never return the favor, tired of pretending that I'll be fine when I know I won't and of being a burden to you all. Wish I could be a little ray of sunshine like you, but all I bring about is rain. Seems I can't help being what I am, so I don't want to ruin your happiness with my presence any longer."

It took Piglet a few seconds to pull himself together, with the brisk realization that even after all that had been said, he was still losing this battle.

"B-b-but you don't, Eeyore!" he replied earnestly, his voice rising higher from the fear seizing him. "I... the others and I really don't mind if you don't say much and if you can't cheer. You don't need to be like Tigger or anybody else. We like you the way you are and j-just having you with us is all we'll ever need of you. We never wanted to change you into something you're not or to put p-pressure on you..."

He fell quiet as a frown seemed to crease Eeyore's brow, fillling him with guilt, but if it lingered there for a fleeting moment, the blink of an eye erased it as swiftly as it had appeared and what had seemed to Piglet like a reproachful scowl had already faded back to the forlorn expression he had come to view as his friend's normal state.

"I'm sorry," Piglet said again, his voice fading down so low that it became difficult to hear over the gentle dripple above. "I hadn't realized... We-we only hoped that we could help you, in our own very clumsy way, because... well, we thought that's what you would expect f-friends to do. We didn't mean to make you feel worse by insisting so much. P-please forgive us if we did."

This time, there was no mistaking the sniffling sound that went by Eeyore's ear. He turned to see Piglet, who was wiping his eyes with the back of his free hand. Hanging his head close to the ground, Eeyore moaned in a voice grimmer than ever,

"See, now I've made you cry. Told you I'm only good at making my friends as miserable as I am."

Piglet sniffled again. "No, it-it's not you, Eeyore. I'm crying because, be-because I had no idea how you felt. I had always assumed that you were just being uselessly negative and that all you needed was something fun to take your mind off whatever bad things you made up. I never thought of asking you what you really wanted, n-never dared to take the things you said seriously... as if ignoring all the pain I didn't want to see could somehow make it all go away. Now I wish I had gone to see you long before you decided to leave. I should have taken the time to listen to you and t-tried to understand instead of wanting to solve things my own easy way. I think... I think I was scared, because seeing you always so s-sad, it breaks my heart and makes me feel so helpless. I wish there was something I could do to make you feel better, but I just d-don't know any way of doing that and I feel like I've failed you. I'm sorry I haven't been a better friend for you when you needed one."

Eeyore opened his mouth to say something but found himself at a complete loss for words. He could only look at his tearful companion, unusual distress contorting his features. Being so acutely aware of his own feelings, it seemed he had somehow come to forget that even the merriest and friendliest of his companions could be hurt as well.

"I didn't mean..." he began ruefully, only to stop short as he detected a change in the cool air.

Although the rain had considerably died down, the wind was rapidly getting stronger. It caught in Piglet's umbrella, making him lose his balance and fall on his rear. As it began to pull him backward toward the slope, Eeyore extended a leg to stop his motion and moved aside so as to be sat right behind him, thus preventing him from sliding further away.

"You should go home while you still can. Looks like the wind's rising up again and I don't think I could ever forgive myself if it carried you away because of me. Was awfully nice of you to come 'round. It's good to be heard, sometimes."

Sitting up with his back propped against the donkey's stout knee, Piglet looked up at him, his black eyes still brimming with tears.

"Come back home with me," he begged. "Life at the Hundred Acre Wood wouldn't b-be the same without you. You know that Christopher Robin would go searching everywhere for you. It was you who found him when he ran away and who led him back to us, and w-when he's sad, not even his best friend can understand him the way you do. He really needs you. We all need you, Eeyore. P-p-please, don't leave us. You can live with Pooh and me until we have your house rebuilt, or for as long as you want, and I'll make sure that you won't be bothered anymore."

Eeyore seemed to consider this for a second, but then he shook his head, his long ears dangling heavily on each side of his massive head.

"That's very kind, little Piglet, perhaps the kindest thing I've ever been told, but it wouldn't change the fact that I'd still be gloomy and make you all feel sorry for me. Things can't go on like this forever. I'd rather stay here, where I can't hurt anyone's feelings... aside from mine, at least. Life will go on more happily for you now and you'll most likely forget me soon enough, though I won't forget any of you. Of all those I'm leaving behind, I think I'll miss you most. You're more helpful than you know. Be careful on your way back, my little friend."

Piglet suppressed an exasperated sob. "But... b-but I can't leave you here all alone in this rain!" he protested, getting back up to face his stubborn companion.

A sudden draft blew again, this time snatching the umbrella out of his hands and taking it somewhere unseen, far away into the darkness. With a weak cry, Piglet plunged right back between the donkey's forelegs, which drew back protectively on either side of him as Eeyore told him,

"No need to worry about me. This isn't the first rainy night I'm spending outside. I'll live through it... probably. This tree will keep me company and in the morning I'll have wild flowers to talk to, maybe even some bugs if I'm lucky, though I can't say I usually am... Flowers have a lot of wisdom to share if you listen very closely, you know, and they might also be the best listeners you can find. I'll get used to living out here. It's a nice place, at least for someone who likes to have a great lonely hill for a home. Not like things could get much worse than they are."

As though to contradict him, a low rumble could be heard in the distance, announcing the passing of a nearby thunderstorm. Peering cautiously around his friend's bulky shoulder, Piglet looked back to the meadow down the hill and his eyes eagerly followed the trail that lead into the dark forest. A shiver ran down his spineless back at the thought of his warm bed waiting for him on the other side and, for a moment, he was cruelly tempted to answer its silent call. Nevertheless, his determination was growing stronger with every passing second, until finally he knew he had made up his mind. Letting out a longing sigh, he leaned back against his friend's broad chest, holding his knees together to rest his chin on.

"Aren't you going back, Piglet?" Eeyore asked him after a while.

"I'm staying with you," the little pig answered with more conviction than he usually had.

Eeyore's eyes grew wide and darted down to his companion.

"You can't possibly mean it. Why would you do that?" he asked, incredulous.

"Because you're my friend, Eeyore. I don't want to lose you."

"But what about the others?" Eeyore urged him again, concern suddenly all too audible in his voice. "You'd be missed, surely a lot more than I will. And wouldn't you come to miss them too? They're good company more often than not, unlike me."

Piglet's heart sank at the thought of his caring owner, his best friend the bear and all their neighbours, with whom he had forged strong bonds and known countless great adventures through the years.

"It's true, I'm going to m-m-miss my friends a lot," he said, struggling to hold back his tears, "but at least, I know they will always have each other and Christopher Robin to look after them. Being so small, m-maybe my absence will only make a small difference among them... but you, y-you're all alone here. What will you do if you ever need someone to be there for you?"

"Even if I do, I don't think anybody could really want the company of someone like me," said Eeyore, absently setting his gaze on a rock that was laying about his hoofless paws.

"_I_ do," said Piglet, craning his neck to look up at him again. "You're important to me, Eeyore. I want to start being the friend I should have been all along, if you will only let me try."

"Makes no sense to me. I'm no fun to be around. Got nothing to offer. I'd only make you feel lonelier than you could ever get on your own, and you of all people deserve to be happy."

Piglet wrinkled his nose thoughtfully.

"W-well, I think fun isn't all that matters," he said. "When my friends are happy, it's only natural that I want to rejoice with them, but when they're not, I also want to share their sadness. I can't be happy knowing that someone I care about is hurt. D-don't you think that's what friends are supposed to be for?"

Somewhat destabilised by his insistance, Eeyore said defeatedly.

"You know I'm a lost cause, Piglet. You'd be wasting your time on me. I don't think I can be helped."

"Then I'll make sure that you will be loved, if it's all I can do," replied Piglet solemnly.

"You might grow weary of me," Eeyore warned him.

To that, Piglet shook his head vigorously.

"I won't ever give up on you, Eeyore."

.

Silence fell upon the meadow, save for the rustling of leaves shaken by the autumn gale and the gentle sound of the rain, which was now little more than a drizzle, lazily dripping on them a few small drops at a time. Piglet let his drowsy gaze wander aimlessly into the empty night sky, his conflicted thoughts swirling so fast that they made him dizzy. The long road had been strenuous and his emotions had been intense. After a while, Piglet found himself dozing off despite the chilling night air, no longer able to fight the overwhelming exhaustion.

Eeyore sat still for a long time, his focus lost somewhere on the bleak horizon before him, until the moon finally found a patch of thinner clouds through which it managed to shine a pathetically dim light.

"There you are, old friend," he said, looking up into the ghostly glow over the land. "It's nice to see you again, though even with your soft light over me, it would be awfully lonely down here without a steady little friend to keep me company."

For all answer, the Moon bashfully drew back inside its refuge of shadows, refusing to let its pearly white face come any further out of the smothering clouds it had been hiding behind all evening.

"And there you go again. Already bored, I reckon. So much for conversation."

Feeling something stir against his leg, Eeyore set his attention back on Piglet, whose tiny form he could see more distinctly in the pale moonlight, still curled up into a tight sitting position with his head resting on his knees.

"You really care that much about me?" Eeyore murmured contemplatively, looking down at his frail companion, whose only answer was to shiver in his troubled sleep. "Why's beyond me. Fear I haven't been much of a friend in return. Rather not imagine what kind of a donkey I'd be if I let you throw everything away for my sake... Alright then."

Bowing down his head, Eeyore picked up the tiny pig on his big muzzle and let him slide down very carefully onto his back.

"Eeyore?" Piglet mumbled weakly, his eyes only briefly fluttering open.

"I'm right here," Eeyore said in his characteristic unexpressive voice. "Just hold on tight."

Unconsciously clinging to the donkey's thick neck, Piglet let his heavy eyelids drop again.

Throwing one last glance at the lonesome tree, Eeyore cautiously began to make his way down the wet slope. He slipped at mid-way, landing disgracefully on his chin and ending his descent much faster than he had intended to, looking very much like an overgrown and completely lost starfish. As he forcefully pulled himself back up, he was surprised to see that his slide down the hill had not even awakened Piglet.

"How very tired you must have been," said Eeyore as he slowly trotted on to reach the glistening path.


	4. The Little Things

**Chapter 4 - The Little Things**

.

Piglet woke up abruptly to a loud crashing sound, followed by a very familiar voice.

"Oh, bother! There goes my very last jar of honey."

He sprang out of what turned out to be his bed to see his friend Winnie the Pooh sprawled on the wooden floor of his home, desperately trying to extract honey from the remains of a broken jar, presumably the one lended to him by Rabbit the day before, which he had been hugging all night.

"Pooh, it's you?" squeaked Piglet on such a surprised tone that the bear stopped licking his sticky paws to stare at him.

"Why, of course it's me, Piglet. You live with me now, don't you remember?"

"B-b-but when... how did I get here?" Piglet stuttered hoarsely.

Pooh cocked his head in confusion.

"By going to bed yesterday?" he offered very usefully.

"Where's Eeyore?"

"Eeyore?" the clueless bear repeated distractedly as he picked up another piece of his broken jar in a rather pitiful attempt to save every last single droplet of honey he could. "Well, he must be at Pooh Corner, I should think... though now that you mention him, it reminds me that poor Eeyore seemed especially depressed yesterday. We should pay him a little visit after breakfast to see how he's doing, don't you think, Piglet?"

But Piglet did not answer, for he was already running down the path to Pooh Corner as fast as his short legs could take him there, apprehensive of what he would find, or rather not find...

.

The sun had risen long before him, but had visibly decided to stay all wrapped up in its silver blanket on this chilly morning. When Piglet finally got to the wooden fence, he was immensely relieved to see the grey silhouette of his friend, who sat dejectedly by his shattered stick house with his back to the road.

"Eeyore!" he cried, nearly startling the stuffed donkey out of his synthetic skin by throwing himself at him with surprising strength that rivaled Tigger's sneaky glomp attacks. "You've come back."

Then, suddenly letting go, he stepped back hurriedly, hiding his hands behind his back as if he had done something wrong.

"Oh, I-I-I'm sorry for startling you like that! I don't want to bother you. It's just that I was s-so afraid you wouldn't be here..."

"It's alright," mumbled Eeyore sleepily. "Not like I was very busy at the moment."

"Something very strange happened," said Piglet, who began pacing around nervously as he spoke. "I just had a t-t-terrible dream in which you had gone away a-and the last thing I remember is that I was there with you, somewhere on the other side of the forest. It all seemed so real, b-but then I woke up inside Pooh's house and... I can't remember how I got there."

Seeing that his visitor would most likely be there for a while, Eeyore lazily got up on all four and tried to stretch his legs, only to briskly stop and recoil with a grunt as the events of the previous night manifested themselves in the form of throbbing pain spreading throughout his entire body.

"You'd fallen asleep and it was getting cold out there, so I thought you'd be much better at home. Pooh didn't hear me knock with all the wind, but he hadn't locked his door ‒ not very careful of him, if you ask me ‒ so I just dropped you in. You looked awfully tired."

"I guess I was," Pigglet said with a light chuckle, rubbing his arm as he also grew aware of the effects of his long run through the woods in his sore limbs. "Thank you, Eeyore. I'm so, so very happy to see you here."

"I still fail to understand how my glum presence can bring you so much joy," said Eeyore, "but if it makes you happy, then so am I."

"Does this mean that you're going to stay for good?" asked Piglet hopefully.

"Since you really insist, I don't seem to have much of a choice, do I? Think it's the least I can do for a friend who's done so much to bring me back."

"I... I did?" Piglet ventured humbly. "But I didn't do anything. Nothing I said was enough to make you come back. All I did was s-stand there. It was you who made the choice on your own, really."

Eeyore followed his companion's downcast gaze and his eyes fell upon a small patch of grass covered with wild violets, which had grown on the spot where Piglet had left the bouquet he had picked up for him one morning, seasons ago. They had withered in the cool autumn air, but the shortest flower still wore its bright purple robe. Eeyore bent down his head to pick it up with his teeth and dropped it into Piglet's open hands.

"More often than you'd think," he said, "it's the little things that really matter. Offering someone a bunch of flowers for no particular reason, stopping by to watch the clouds with them for a while, or holding an umbrella to shield them from the rain, just stayin' by their side until the storm's over. Sometimes, a bit of fluff fills up the ears and even the wisest words lose their meaning, but in the long run, it's those little acts of kindness that speak loud enough to reach through. A little bit of your time, a little consideration can fill up the biggest hole inside a heavy heart, and a little friend can make all the difference. Thanks for caring."

Deeply moved at the thought of having been Helpful, Piglet responded by drawing his friend ‒ or rather, the closest part of him that his short arms were able to tie around, which happened to be his big muzzle ‒ into a warm embrace. When he pulled back, he was met with one of Eeyore's rare genuine smiles, and in return he beamed up from ear to ear.

The moment was interrupted as the two friends heard a huffed breath behind them. They turned to see Winnie the Pooh climbing up the fence with a medium-sized honey pot tucked under his arm.

"What's going on here?" asked the curious bear, panting as he jogged up to meet them. "Piglet, you left in such a hurry that you forgot a Very Important Thing!"

"W-w-what did I forget, Pooh?" asked the pink animal worriedly.

"Why, breakfast, of course. They say it's the most important meal of the day, or so Christopher Robin says they say... I'm not quite sure who 'they' are, come to think of it, and I don't think they are right to assume that the other meals are any less important, but I do know that skipping breakfast can't be very good for you, Piglet, so I stopped at Rabbit's again to get you a little something in case you might be hungry."

Presenting him the half-empty honey jar, he explained very seriously, "There was a tiny bit more of it, you see, but I had to make sure it was good before I could give it to you. As you may understand, it would have been very rude of me to offer you a jar full of bad honey, don't you think? Now I can assure you it's indeed very good!"

Piglet peered over the rim to see what was left of the thick liquid at the bottom of the jar and, as he had suspected, it contained a lot more air than honey.

"Well, that's a very nice attention, Pooh," he said politely. "Thank you for offering it, but I think I would rather have just a few haycorns later. You can eat the rest if you want... unless Eeyore would like to have some?"

"Good idea, Piglet," said Pooh cheerfully, though his eager eyes would not leave the jar. "Eeyore, would you like a little smackerel of honey?"

"Thanks, but I've already had breakfast," answered the donkey with a vague head gesture toward a thistly spot near the fence.

"Oh. Well, that's too bad," said Pooh, trying his best to sound sorry, before plunging a paw to the bottom of the jar and bringing out most of its content. Two mouthfuls sufficed to empty the pot.

When he had extracted all he could, he directed his attention back to his friends, who were now staring rather dispiritedly at what had been Eeyore's house.

"Would you happen to need a hand with that?" asked Pooh, pointing a gummy paw to the scattered pile of wood.

The other two looked at him, then at each other, and Eeyore said,

"Didn't think anyone would offer it, but now that you do, I won't deny that a little help wouldn't hurt, if you don't mind holding these in place..."

.

All three animals were busy assembling the last few sticks and trying to tie them up together when Tigger came bouncing merrily down the road.

"Hoo hoo hoo hoo! Hello there, fellas!" he cried, waving at them wildly. Three more bounces were all it took before he was comfortably perched on Pooh's stomach, while the latter and Piglet were finding themselves not so comfortably knocked over onto their backs.

"Say, it looks like you're havin' fun 'round here!" observed Tigger.

"What makes you say that?" muttered Eeyore, who was having a hard time holding the last three sticks that his friends had been about to tie together before Tigger's unnanounced arrival.

Quickly getting back up to help him, Piglet warned the excited feline,

"Careful, Tigger! Eeyore's house had been knocked down again and we were j-just barely done repairing it. It's a very fragile house, you know."

"Oh, I see. No worries, Piglet! Building stick houses is what Tiggers do best. How can I help ya?"

"Actually," said Pooh, pointing to the final result, "I think we have just finished."

It was then that Roo came into sight, closely followed by Kanga.

"Tigger, wait for me! Hi Pooh, hi Piglet!" he happily called out to the others as he saw them. "Eeyore, I have something for you."

Eeyore blinked, looking very surprised.

"For me? It's not my birthday. That's okay, though, mistakes happen."

"It's not a birthday present," explained Roo, plunging halfway inside his mother's pouch, searching for something. When he found it, he happily bounced to where Eeyore was standing, coming to a stop in front of him. "It's a friendship gift! Don't you know you can get those at any time of the year? I wanted to give you one now."

He produced a small paper square, which he unfolded several times and held up proudly in the expressionless donkey's face. On the large sheet was a colourful drawing of an almost freakishly joyful lot of animals all holding hands, in which Eeyore could recognise each one of their friends. In the middle, standing out from the bunch of rough silhouettes, there was a big grey shape that vaguely resembled a donkey, next to a smaller blue and brown spot that Eeyore could only identify as Roo himself. A huge sun was shining down big yellow rays on them and hearts of all possible shapes and colors surrounded the whole gang.

A corner of Eeyore's mouth only quirked into a faint smile, but his eyes were undoubtedly shining, like they sometimes did when the night sky he was so fond of was reflected in them.

"That's a very nice drawing, Roo. Much nicer than anything I could draw."

Grinning delightfully, Roo took a pin that he had brought with him and hung his masterpiece onto the highest stick he could reach above the entrance to Eeyore's new house. Meanwhile, Kanga pulled a long scarf out of her pouch, which she flung around Eeyore's neck.

"There you go! To keep you warm during the fall. And until you either find your tail or get a proper replacement, it can also serve as one," she said with a wink as she placed the longest part of the scarf onto his back so as to let the loose end hang behind him, held in place by the nail that was still there.

"You shouldn't have gone through all the trouble of making this for me, Kanga," said Eeyore uneasily.

"Tut-tut! No protesting. It's my pleasure," said the motherly kangaroo, smiling at him warmly.

The next one to come about was Rabbit, pretending to walk by carelessly down the road, but the closer he came to the animated group of animals, the slower his pace got. As he passed them by, he quickly peered over the fence, seeming uncharacteristically unsure of himself. He almost came to a halt, before suddenly hurrying on, as though he had changed his mind about some important matter. Noticing him, Eeyore slowly retracted from the merry company, only to approach the side of the fence where the newcomer was quickly continuing on his way.

"Lost your way, Rabbit?" he inquired in his usual monotone voice.

Rabbit jumped and turned to face him pretty much the same way Roo had when his mother had caught him hiding his medecine.

"E-Eeyore! Nice scarf you got there, heh. Well, you see, I was on my way to see Owl when I just happened to pass by and I thought I would seize the occasion to, uh..."

Accidentally meeting the other's gaze, Rabbit trailed off and the careless demeanor he had been putting on suddenly crumbled, leaving him contrite and shameful. He took a deep breath and his shoulders slumped forward.

"Actually, there's something I need to tell you," he said again, suddenly fascinated by his own feet. "Look, I... about what I said yesterday..."

Eeyore cut him off. "Don't mention it. You were right, anyway."

"I was?... I mean, no, I wasn't! I lost my temper and spoke without thinking and... well, I guess I'm here to apologise. Can you forgive my harsh words?"

"If you can forgive me for ruining your party," replied Eeyore. "And the whole day with it. And probably also the day before and most other days before that too."

"There's nothing to forgive, Eeyore. I should have respected your wish to be left alone, that's all. Though you do know that you're always welcome to join us. Just let us know whenever you wish to, will you?"

.

Shortly afterwards, Owl came soaring down and quietly perched himself upon the fence, close to where the others were still talking. Pooh saw him land and came closer to greet him.

"Hullo, Owl. Lovely day, isn't it?"

"I daresay it is, Pooh. From up there, the weather seemed rather grey and windy, but it certainly does appear much better from down here with you all."

"I believe you have something changed, but I can't quite place it," observed Pooh, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"Oh, do you mean this, by any chance?" Owl gestured with his right wing to indicate the long object that hung from his neck down to his claws and stood straighter for the intrigued bear to see better. "Well, you see, my dear Pooh bear, there I was, flying over the river downstream, when I saw this beautiful bow tie caught between two rocks near the waterfall. As there was no one around to whom it may have belonged, I picked it up and here it is. So, how do I look?"

Pooh stared at the found object intently, wondering why something he had never yet seen could give him such a nagging impression of déjà vu. Suddenly, he remembered that he had indeed seen it many times before. Giggling lightly, he stated, "But Owl, this is no bow tie. Why, I believe it's Eeyore's tail!"

"Oh, is it?" said a somewhat flustered Owl. "I thought it did look familiar... Well then, I suppose he will want to have it back, won't he?"

.

And so Eeyore's tail was returned to its rightful owner, and when Christopher Robin came to see his friends later that day, he was able to successfully nail it back in its place. That did not make Eeyore a much more cheerful donkey, but it certainly did brighten up his day at least a little. For some reason even he did not fully understand, the sun always seemed to shy away from him, leaving only the greyest of clouds to surround him, but knowing how much his friends cared about him nonetheless made his dark sky just a bit lighter; and when the rain would fall too hard, he knew he could always find shelter in the company of a true friend, which he considered himself lucky to have such a large number of.

As for Piglet, he decided from that day on to pay his most serious friend a short visit every day. No matter where he was headed or what the weather was like, he always made sure to pass by Pooh Corner, where he would usually find Eeyore near his stick house, either lost in deep thought or in the contemplation of a wild flower. On most days, a smile or a wave of his hand was all the interaction his solitary friend needed. However, there sometimes were days where it seemed that Eeyore's corner was beginning to take up too much space for just one animal, or that the rain cloud that would never cease to follow him around was getting too thick for the light to break through. On such days, Piglet would quietly come in and sit by his side for some time, for as long as it took for the turmoil to roll by and for his mood to brighten up, if only ever so slightly. Once in a while, a storm that had been weighing on Eeyore's mind for too long would break just as his friend came to shield him, not entirely unlike the way his rainbow-coloured umbrella once had. A few kind words and a warm hug sometimes helped, but most of the time, they would simply watch the sunlight paint the clouds in silence, knowing that there were times when friends did not need to say anything.

.

.

_**Author's final note:**__ Oh boy, I hope I haven't ruined this franchise too much! Sorry if the whole thing got unnecessarily sappy, it seems I can't help myself. As for the somewhat clichéed storyline, I thought I might as well try to stick to the Disney tradition, which apparently requires every once in a while that the main adventure revolves around a character that mysteriously disappears for most of the screen time. (Tigger and Piglet each had their own movie in which all their friends spent a great deal of time trying to find them; Christopher Robin went missing in both _Pooh's Grand Adventure_ and the 2011 movie, and an episode had him run away with Pooh; even Rabbit made his bags at least twice in the TV show.) It occured to me that among the main characters, Eeyore was pretty much the only one left I could think of who had not had his own "disappearance movie/episode" yet (unless I missed it?), so there you go._

_But more seriously, I just wanted to add my humble contribution to the fandom, because I noticed that there didn't seem to be too many fanfics revolving mostly about either Eeyore or Piglet, let alone about the two of them. There are so many interesting relationships in the Hundred Acre Wood and I think all the characters are equally endearing, but for some reason, these two have always had a special place in my heart. Even though there isn't much about the dynamics between them specifically in the official material, it's just little details here and there that caught my attention. Despite being a lot more cynical and sarcastic in the books, Eeyore always did seem to have a soft spot for Piglet, or so it seemed to me. I like to think that the latter's very empathetic nature might have contributed to that. For instance, I slipped in a few references to anecdotes from the books, one of which being when Piglet spontaneously decided to pick a bunch of violets for Eeyore, simply because the thought came to him that he had never been offered flowers. As for Eeyore, he didn't overtly show kindness very often, but one of the nicest things he said was to Piglet on a blusterous day: "Mind you don't get blown away, little Piglet. You'd be missed. People would say 'Where's little Piglet been blown to?' ‒ really wanting to know. Well, good-bye. And thank you for happening to pass me." I just thought that was pretty sweet coming from him._

_As for that one detail I totally made up concerning Eeyore's past, I know it probably looks like I borrowed the idea from _Toy Story_, but what actually gave me that idea is the fact that Eeyore is often referred to as an "_old_ grey donkey". He may simply have been made that way or seem older than he actually is because of his personality, but I found myself wondering, what if he was in fact considerably older than Christopher Robin's other stuffed animals, despite the fact that Winnie the Pooh was the first one that the boy received as his first birthday present, perhaps because he had once belonged to another child... I also remembered reading somewhere that he was stuffed with sawdust instead of fluff like the others and I thought it could be interesting to use that information symbolically for his heavy-spirited dispositions._

_._

_In case anyone might like to know which episodes of _The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh_ I made allusions to or borrowed ideas from, here are a few:_

_"Donkey for a Day" (When Piglet notices that Eeyore seems more depressed than usual, all his friends try and fail miserably to cheer him up. Cloud-painting on the hilltop and pretty much everything else in this story is shamelessly based on that one);_

_"Good-bye, Mr. Pooh" (After a misunderstanding leads everyone to think Pooh is moving away, his friends throw him a "going-away party". He leaves so as not to upset them, but having no other place to go, he returns soon afterwards, only to find his home occupied by Eeyore, whom the gang then tries to get out of there without hurting his feelings);_

_"The 'New' Eeyore" (Eeyore envies Tigger's extroverted playfulness and confidence and tries to act just like him in order to become more popular, which turns out to have quite the opposite effect on his friends);_

_"Home Is Where the Home Is" (After accidentally breaking a valuable statue in the house, Christopher Robin panics and runs away, bringing Pooh along with him, and Eeyore goes after them);_

_"Eeyi Eeyi Eeyore" (In which Eeyore talks to a flower seed to help it grow);_

_"Owl Feathers" (Which is probably where I got that random idea of Owl's relative losing his feathers)._

_._

_I also want to thank the author **Plastic Emotion**, who kindly allowed me to use elements from their own writing. The allusion to Tigger having his leg torn up in the first chapter was greatly inspired to me by their _wonderful story, "A Mother's Love". If you haven't read it, I highly recommend doing so at once! It's a pure little marvel.__

_Well, I think that's all. Please feel free to leave a little review if you have the time and thank you for happening to pass by ! :)_


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